Conversational Patterns in Halaqah-Based Spiritual Counseling at Pesantren : A Discourse-Analytic Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68299/5agn1612Keywords:
Halaqah, Spiritual Counseling, Discourse Analysis, Pesantren, Hierarchical IntimacyAbstract
Although halaqah is widely practiced in Islamic boarding schools, its role as a form of spiritual counseling has received limited discourse-analytic attention, particularly in relation to how authority, intimacy, moral guidance, and student participation are constructed through conversation. This study aims to examine the conversational patterns of halaqah-based spiritual counseling at Pondok Pesantren Darullughah Wadda’wah and to explain how such interaction functions as both individual guidance and collective moral education. Employing a qualitative discourse-analytic design, the study draws on non-participant observation, audio-recorded halaqah interactions, field notes, and semi-structured interviews with ustadz and santri. The data were analyzed by identifying recurrent interactional structures, linguistic strategies, religious references, verbal responses, silence, and the moral-educational functions embedded in the counseling process. The findings reveal six major patterns: hierarchical intimacy, spiritual reframing of personal problems, soft directive strategies, religious intertextuality as discursive authority, silence and short responses as expressions of adab, and halaqah as collective moral education. The study contributes theoretically by introducing the concept of hierarchical intimacy, which reframes hierarchy not as oppressive domination but as affectionate pedagogical-spiritual authority grounded in trust, adab, knowledge, and moral responsibility. Analytically, this study expands discourse analysis into pesantren-based counseling by showing how spiritual transformation is produced through everyday religious conversation.
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